Six Ways to Make Your Mark on Winter

Skijoring and Mushing

Head to Peace Pups Dog Sledding in Elmore for some canine-powered winter fun. Never heard of skijoring? Picture yourself on cross-country skis, harnessed to a frisky pup. If that’s too scary, move right along to traditional dogsledding. (peacepupsdogsledding.com)

Spin Yer Partner

The Vermont Association of Western Style Square Dance Clubs is your source for all things square dance-y in the Green Mountain State. This group can tell you where the stomping is going down, or guide you to a lesson or workshop. (squaredancevt.org)

Snowkiting

As ice fishing is to good old summer fishing, snowkiting is to windsurfing. On Lake Champlain, instructor Rachael Miller will help you figure out how to keep your cool as you carve fresh tracks at 30 mph across the snow-covered ice. Yee-haw! (stormboarding.com)

Curling

If curling’s reputation as the Olympics’ sleepiest sport has kept you off the ice, redeem yourself at a Learn to Curl clinic at Burlington’s Cairns Arena. (greenmountaincurlingclub.org)

Sledding

If you’re thinking cumbersome runner sled, think again: Modern sledding, featuring high-tech Vermont-made rides like the Mad River Rocket and Hammerhead Sleds, is a whole new ballgame. For sledding tips and secret stashes, check it out. (hammerheadsleds.com)

Gambling on Ice

The Joe's Pond Ice-Out Contest isn't as much about winning (although this year’s winner got $5,000!), it’s about playing the game while shaking off the effects of a long, cold Vermont winter and muddy spring.

The weather is always a favorite topic of conversation among Vermonters, and by late February or March people in the area of Joe's Pond invariably expand it to "when do you think the ice will go out?" It’s a buck a guess to enter, and a sophisticated measuring device – an old, electric alarm clock - is tethered it to a cinder block that’s wired to a wooden pallet placed about 100 feet out on the ice just off the fishing access. When the ice is out of all the nooks and crannies and coves of the pond, the block sinks, the clock stops, and the "official" ice-out time is established. Whoever guesses closest to the date and time the clock stops is the winner. Got a dollar? (joespondvermont.com/iceout)